


Finders Keepers

by RebelliousBees



Category: Star Wars - All Media Types, Star Wars Prequel Trilogy
Genre: Agricorp AU, Child Neglect, Gen, No Beta We Die Like Clones, Slavery
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-09-25
Updated: 2020-09-25
Packaged: 2021-03-07 19:08:24
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,368
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/26642716
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/RebelliousBees/pseuds/RebelliousBees
Summary: Xanatos sees Obi-Wan on Bandomeer, and, you know, free kid.
Comments: 9
Kudos: 151





	Finders Keepers

Xanatos is lurking. It’s not pathetic; it’s strategic. He’d managed to lure the Jedi to Bandomeer, and now he needed to learn more about who exactly had been sent in order to iron out the specifics about how he was going to take his revenge.

Right now he was shadowing the youngest that the Order had so kindly sent to him. Xanatos had thought he might hurt the child first, to make all the Jedi, and especially his master, feel like the failures they were, but it seemed he might somehow have overestimated the Order again. The child had had little supervision from any members of the Jedi or Agricorp, which was criminally negligent on a planet this dangerous. It also left Xanatos unsure as to whether they would even truly care if the child was hurt. Sure, they might get scolded by the council, but he wanted better revenge than getting these fools in trouble with their bosses.

Xanatos felt confident in his assessment that Qui-Gon would never have allowed his padawan to be treated this way before, which could only mean Xanatos’ fall had managed to damage the man in a way that Xanatos hadn’t predicted. If it was a change Xanatos had hoped to cause in the future, or one that harmed his old master instead of some chrecheling, Xanatos might even have been pleased. 

Xanatos felt Qui-Gon round the corner and hid his force presence with the shadows that were so abundant here on Bandomeer. From his position he could see the way the boy perked up at the sight of his master. 

“Master Jinn.” The boy even gave the man a low bow, as if the man deserved it. 

“Kenobi. Is there a reason you are so far from your assigned area?” 

“I’m sorry, Master Jinn. I was only curious.” A lie, of course. The boy had spent most of the day snooping throughout the mine’s operation’s center. His recon abilities were coming along nicely for a padawan on their first mission.

“Do you believe your satisfied curiosity will make up for the burden your disobedience has laid on the rest of us, having to track you down?” The boy, unsurprisingly cringes in on himself at the comment. 

A rather unfair comment, too. The boy had been where he wasn’t supposed to be, true, but such was the way of children. Besides, his actions had been to help the Jedi’s mission while giving the masters plausible deniability, such disobedience was implicitly expected of padawans. 

Qui-Gon, looking surprisingly satisfied to have so effectively crushed the boy’s spirits and will to learn and help, sweeps past the child and on through the hallway. Giving the child, Kenobi, apparently, one last considering look. Xanatos follows the master away. 

“Was that wise?” Xanatos asked, making sure to use the silky tone his master had always found grating. He didn’t unshield his presence in the force, making sure his old master understood the disadvantage he was now at.

“Xanatos. What do you want?”

Xanatos’ friends in the order had reported that his old master received neither punishment for losing his padawan nor comfort or therapy for having  _ lost his padawan.  _ Perhaps that was why this Qui-Gon in front of his seemed so much less than the one in his memories.

“Just a bit of friendly advice. You may find the council less understanding when you chase away a second padawan.” 

Qui-Gon laughs, as if Xanatos had said something funny. “You’ve lost your touch. The boy is only an Agricorp reject.”

His old master was more pathetic than he’d first appeared. There was no way that boy was a reject. His force presence was nothing like those sent to the corp, and even less like those sent to the  _ Agricorp.  _ He was strong in the Unifying Force and not well suited for encouraging plants to grow. Besides, Bandomeer was a project that would require several experienced Agricorp members. 

No, this reeked of typical Jedi manipulations. Clearly, someone in a powerful position wanted Xanatos replaced. 

All in all, Xanatos supposed if he had to be replaced, at least they hadn’t chosen someone insulting. The boy had potential. A master would be lucky to have such a padawan. Qui-Gon had just given an excellent demonstration of why he deserved no such honor. Xanatos would just have to relieve him of his burden. 

First, of course, he needed to respond to the insult his master had just paid him. He wrenched a light fixture off the wall with a twist of his fingers and sent it flying into Qui-Gon’s face with a flick. The blood now streaming out of Qui-Gon’s nose was a nice demonstration that his master could, in fact, still look as beautiful as Xanatos had thought his master was when he was still a crush-ridden padawan. 

___

Obi-Wan is lost, again. He’d been given a map, but somehow he’d ended up in an area that wasn’t even on the thing. While he’s distracted looking over the map once more, hoping the force might give him a clue as to what part of it he might be closest to, a man slips into the room.

He’s fairly young, though certainly an adult. He’s fit, but he’s clearly no worker. His long hair, fine clothes, and aristocratic features give him instantly away as nobility, and there’s only one noble that’s supposed to be on Bandomeer. 

"You're a darksider"

"So?" The man, Du Crion, seems unconcerned, going even so far as to shrug, as if he really doesn’t understand Ob-Wan’s concern.

"So, why are you here?"

“Here, on my own planet?”

“Here, in the same place I am.”

“Perhaps it’s a coincidence.” The force rings discordant at that. Du Crion was definitely here for Obi-Wan specifically, and there was no way the man wouldn’t have felt that ringing, but he still seems unconcerned. 

Nevertheless, he does explain. “I find the way you’ve been treated to be despicable.” 

What? The man was lying to him. Obi-Wan may not feel it in the force, but, “I heard you treat people worse.” Obi-Wan wasn’t even being treated badly. Sure, he’d been lonely and uncomfortable since before he’d even docked planetside, but that’s just what it meant to be an Agricorp reject. 

"From whom? The Jedi Council? And you believed them? Do you think that they're an objective source of information?”

It’s not that Obi-Wan thinks the Jedi Council had lied, but he’d had a diplomacy course. He knew what the world objective meant, and, technically, the Jedi Council wasn’t objective. Besides, maybe if Obi-Wan played into whatever this man wants, he’d continue to ‘forget’ that Obi-Wan’s not supposed to be in this part of the complex.

"The council wanted me to kill my father to prove my loyalty to them."

Again, the force stayed silent, but the man must have been lying. The council upheld the age limits specifically so that children wouldn’t have to face such terrible tests of loyalty. 

“I couldn’t believe it either. I tried to refuse, so Master Jinn killed my father for me. When I got angry, the council kicked me out, and it made me think. I realized that the council has never been as good as they like to pretend. The Jedi don’t do anything to fight slavery in the outer rim any more. There’s a lot of suffering the council sees no reason to address, but it’s worse than that. Have you heard about Galidraan?”

The man was hopping from what point to the next too quickly. Obi-Wan didn’t have time to think of counter arguments before the man was bringing up something else. He didn’t need to think about what to say to this one though. “Galidraan was an accident!”

“An accident? Is it really possible to commit genocide ‘accidentally?’ And if it was really an accident, why not make reparations? Or why not change their policies so that the Senate can’t use Jedi as executioners without hard proof any more? The council just doesn’t care. Not about the galaxy they claim to serve, and certainly not about the children under their care.”

Obi didn’t know how to answer. He didn’t know enough about politics to be able to call the man on what must be lies, whatever the force refused to say. 

Obi-Wan could have argued the point about the council’s care for children instead, but a lump stuck in his throat when he tried. The lump felt the same as the one that formed when he pleaded for Bruck to leave him alone, or when he made his countless appeals to another indifferent master. He tried to swallow it down, to find words as he’d managed in the past, but this time it stuck fast, painful, and he couldn’t say anything at all. 

The man took pity when he realized Obi-Wan couldn’t answer. “I’m sorry. I know that was a lot. Let me show you the way back to where you’re supposed to be.” Obi-Wan knew he should refuse kindness that came from a darksider, but he  _ was  _ lost. 

Obi-Wan takes another look at his confusing, incomplete map. He reaches out his senses, hoping to feel the light of a nearby Jedi Master willing to help. Nothing. His choices were to trust this man to lead him true, or to figure this out alone. 

The man leads the way out of the room, and Obi-Wan follows. 

___

Obi-Wan is thirsty. He’s thirsty, and hurt, and there’s a bomb locked around his neck.

Ironically enough, when he’d been captured he hadn’t even been in an area he was unauthorized for. Not that it mattered. 

He’d been down here for about a week. He’d hated the Agricorp, hated trying to grow plants with his weak grasp of the Living Force, hated the miserable accommodations, hated the miserable, dusty planet he was serving on. He’d tried to let it go; Jedi didn’t hate. 

He’d do anything to hate again. He’d been afraid, when he’d first been captured, but somehow, without him noticing, his fear had numbed into a vague feeling of resignation that had settled into his bones. He didn’t want to be resigned. He wanted to be scared and angry and hateful again, but he just couldn’t summon the feelings. He felt empty. 

The door buzzed. The overseer would be in to drag Obi-Wan and his miserable fellow slaves back to work.

The door opened, but it wasn’t the overseer. It was the darksider, Du Crion. He crossed the room to Obi-Wan, not even glancing at the others, and leaned in close. 

“I’ve convinced the mining company to give me a gift, as appreciation for being allowed to operate on my plante. Play along,” and the man pulled him not onto his feet, but into his arms and made his way out of the room. 

Just before they clear the threshold, Obi-Wan leaned in close to the man’s ear. “What about the others?” He looked through the curtain of Du Crion’s hair. He could see the other slaves; one of them was crying. 

“I don’t have the power to save them all. Bandomeer’s economy cannot sustain the loss of the mining company’s business. I cannot offend them.”

Obi-Wan supposed it made sense; nobility had responsibilities to their people. “If you can only save one person, you should save someone else.” That sounded like the kind of thing a Jedi would say.

“No. I don’t know what needs they may have, and I have no way of knowing whether they’re trustworthy. I can’t afford to take the chance.”

“You’re taking a chance with me. You don’t know me.”

“You’ve been on my planet for a month now; I know you.”

That doesn’t sound exactly right, but Obi-Wan can’t quite put his finger on why. “You’re doing all this to take me back to the Agricorop. I thought you hated the Jedi.”

Du Crion wrinkles his nose. “I dislike that they treat people so poorly, but that is not your fault. I will take you back to the Agricorp if you like, but I’m here because I’ve seen that you have potential. You would be wasted as a farmer.”

Du Crion has been undoing Obi-Wan’s chains while he speaks, and finally, Obi-Wan can feel the Force again. Du Crion’s familiar darkness is curled around him, and it keeps the misery seeping through the mines from pressing against his skin. It feels nice even though Obi-Wan knows it shouldn’t. 

“What do you mean you’ll take me back to the Agricorp if I want? Where else could I go?”

Du Crion’s darkness curled in tighter around him. It might have felt restricting before, but after a week in chains, it felt wonderful to be so immersed in another’s signature. It almost distracted him from the fact that Du Crion hadn’t answered his question, but in this, no answer spoke much more clearly than anything Du Crion could of said. 

His darkness was curling around Obi-Wan. He was holding him in his arms as he rescued him from slavery. Du Crion had all but told him that if the council hadn’t treated him cruelly, he would have happily lived out his entire life in the Jedi Order. If he had ever planned for his future, now would be about the time he would have been expecting to look for a padawan, and he wanted Obi-Wan.

He knew he shouldn’t consider it, but Du Crion had been kind to him, was rescuing him from slavery. Du Crion was choosing him. It was all Obi-Wan had ever wanted, but Obi-Wan knew that the Force wanted him to be a Jedi. Those who defied the Force found themselves ever unhappy, but there was more than one way to follow the will of the Force.

“You would train me as a Jedi? In the Light.”

Du Crion’s arms tightened around him, surprised that he had guessed his intentions. It felt nice, secure. “For as long as you wanted.”

What more could Obi-Wan possibly ask for? He tucked his face into Master Du Crion’s neck. He meant to say something, to accept more formally, but he found himself falling asleep instead, surrounded by cool, dark comfort. 

**Author's Note:**

> I think it needs to be longer to really have proper pacing and certainly to be fleshed out fully, but as much as I loved writing this, I don't have the energy to make it any longer. I hope you enjoy what there is! This was my first time writing for a prompt, and I'm pretty satisfied. Thanks for reading <3  
> You can find me on tumblr at rebelliousbees-starwars


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